Faith, autism, languages, chickens, and clothes… The life of a teenage girl.

Monthly Archives: November 2015

Well, Summer is here and so is Fire Season – and it started with a bang, with major fires first in WA on the 17th and then here in SA on the 25-26th. Several people lost their lives in the WA fire and three here, as well as more than a dozen hospitalised here.

The fire which swept through the plains and valleys just north of Adelaide last week covered an area of about 1500km2, from what I can work out, burning towns including Marrabel, Mallala, Kapunda, Eudunda, Wasleys and Dutton. For Americans, that’s an area roughly the size of Rhode Island. For British readers, that’s about the size of Hertfordshire.

There was another fire north of there, in Mintaro (which is near Burra), but that was quickly contained.

While these fires didn’t affect me, they are a sobering reminder that yes, Summer is here. Units were called in from my area to help fight the fires up north and I watched several tankers from the towns around me heading down the freeway – the procedure is that no more than two thirds are taken from any area, but on a Catastrophic Fire Ban Day, I couldn’t help but worry that we’d be caught out with only one-third of our fighters.

All CFS firefighters are volunteers from the local community, of all ages and both genders, but many retired men and teenage boys (CFS Cadets is a popular alternative/supplement to Scouting) and I know several CFS fireys my own age. In fact, one friend from the Hills, aged 17, was among those called out to deal with the fires up north.

While these fires didn’t affect me, I know people in that area who were affected. The wonderful Hugh and Janet Gordon, who have taught at Spring Fiddle Camp for the past three years, lost their home and all their possessions last week.

We can also remember Rev’d Bart O’Donovan (Mallala and Two Wells) and Rev’d Barbara Messner (Kapunda), as well as everyone else who is involved in helping people rebuild.

A 1:1-2 Greetings
. B 1:3-9 Blessed be God
. C 1:10-12 Inheritance after Suffering
. D 1:13-2:17 How to Live – to the General Populace
. E 2:18-3:7 How to Live – to Specific Groups
. F 3:8-17 Called to Blessing by God
. G 3:18-4:6 Christ’s Suffering
. F 4:7-19 Serving for the Glory of God
. E 5:1-5a How to Live – to Specific Groups
. D 5:5b-9 How to Live – to the General Populace
. C 5:10 Inheritance after Suffering
. B 5:11 Blessed be God
A 5:12-14 Greetings

1:1-4:13 Sermon 1: Christ, the Son of God
I 1:1-4 Introduction Our Faith, Through the Son
II 1:5-2:18 Exposition Christ in the Cosmic Order of
. Things
. a 1:5-15 The Son, Above the Angels and One With God
. b 2:1-9 The Son, Made Lower than the Angels for Our
. Need
. c 2:10-18 The Son, Lowly and Suffering for Our Salvation
III 3:1-4:13 Hortation Christ, Who Was Faithful
. a 3:1-6 The Son, the Supreme Example of Faithfulness
. b 3:7-19 A Caution Against Faithlessness by Past
. Example
. c 4:1-11 A Promise of Rest for Those Who Are Faithful
IV 4:12-13 Conclusion Be Diligent, because you Can’t Hide
. From God

4:14-6:12 Sermon 2: Christ, the Great High Priest
I 4:14-16 Introduction See our High Priest; Let Us Draw
. Near
II 5:1-10 Exposition Christ Appoint A High Priest
. a 5:1-4 The Calling of Earthly Priests
. b 5:5-10 The Calling of Christ to Priesthood
III 5:11-6:12 Hortation The Stagnant Listeners
. a 5:11-14 The Current Problem of the Listeners
. b 6:1-8 A Potential Problem of the Listeners
IV 6:9-12 Conclusion See our Potential; Let Us Strive
. Towards It

Here’s this week’s question: “You have won a holiday – a week abroad in another country: where will you/ won’t you go? What will you/ won’t you see there? Who will go on holiday with you?…” and other questions like that. Here’s my response:

Well, if I won a holiday abroad in another country’s go to New Zealand or Bali. Every other country is too far away to go from Australia. I’d prefer to go to New Zealand. Bali is such a bogan place.

In New Zealand, I’ll see big, tall mountains, snow, and kiwis. I won’t see koalas or kangaroos at all. I’ll see signs in Maori as well. I think I won’t go with another person on holiday, but I have cousins in New Zealand.

When I open the door in the morning, I’ll hear sheep and… kiwis. I hope that I won’t hear koalas in the evening!

I’d like to learn Maori, if I’m in New Zealand, but I think it would be better if I learnt an Australian language.

There are more sevens beginning these chapters (remember, seven churches, seven stars, and seven lampstands in chapters 1-3, and seven seals in chapter 8), as we begin with seven angels and seven bowls. This, however, does not appear to be the point of the chapter, in which we meet the purple-and-red-clad woman, drinking blood and carrying a cup of filth. She seems to representing sin; our sin, and everyone who falls into sin; money and wealth and power and lust… and eventual and final fall to nothing other than Heaven. God is triumphant, and Christ appears once more, in a similar manner to the woman, riding in a procession, but greater than hers. Satan is bound, rebellion crushed, everything is made new and shining. At the end of chapter 21 and beginning of chapter 22, we are told that there won’t be need of a temple or church or even artificial lighting, because God will be right there. And then the book finished as it began, with Jesus, the Beginning and the End, speaking in warning to the churches.

I feel somewhat as though this chapter shouldn’t really be read in isolation, but rather in context, since the very first phrase, “when He opened the seventh seal”, raises the question, “What about the first to sixth seals?” Nevertheless, there are trumpets in this reading, and I cannot help but be reminded of the shofar (horn trumpet) at a campsite a few weeks ago. No-one managed to get any real sound out of it, but I, at least, was reminded of the story of Jericho, where many people were blowing trumpets which eventually bought down the city. It’s with this imagery in mind that I read about the angels blowing trumpets here to call in destruction on something somewhat larger than a city: the world.